Walking and running are widely recognized as healthful methods of exercise. Walkers and runners often use roads as the paths for such exercise because these provide the only or best available areas to do so. Also, while many people enjoy these forms of exercise, many people may only do so at night because of daytime commitments such as work or child-care.
It is clear that, at night, it can be hazardous for runners and walkers to share a road with automobile traffic. In an attempt to decrease that risk, various attempts have been made to increase the visibility of such persons. One method known is the use of clothing or accessories which are brightly colored, such as day-glow vests. While this method is helpful, it has been found that the most effective way to increase the visibility of a pedestrian at night is the use of reflective materials. Reflective materials are more desirable because they reflect nearly all of the light incident upon them thereby creating a glowing appearance at night.
One example of the use of reflective materials is the inclusion of reflective materials on a vest. Another example is the inclusion of reflective materials in the shoelaces worn by the person exercising. In one prior art method, a reflective shoelace is made by weaving reflective thread into a standard shoelace. While this method is effective, the process of weaving such thread into a standard shoelace is expensive. Also, much of the reflective material added to the shoelace is unused and wasted because it is not on the outside of the lace. Moreover, of the reflective material that is one the outside of the lace, much is hidden by the shoe or by other sections of the lace itself, and thereby rendered ineffectual. Furthermore, the reflective material must be added during the initial manufacturing process, and cannot be added at any later time.
In another prior art method, a reflective shoelace is created by folding a long piece of reflective fabric in half around an adhesive, and then adding small non-reflective tubes on the ends to aid in threading the material into a shoe. (An example of this type of shoelace is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,447 to Sullivan.) This prior art lace design is also intended to enhance visibility, however, nearly the entire structure is made of relatively high-cost reflective material, and as with the prior art design mentioned above, much of that reflective material is hidden and unused. Moreover, because the prior art reflective shoelace is composed of reflective material (which is necessarily a plastic-like material), it does not have some of the desirable qualities of other types of shoelaces such as woven cotton laces. Some of these desired qualities include a greater thickness and resilient compressibility (which aid in untying knots), slip-resistance (which helps prevent jammed knots and also helps prevent the lace from shifting when tied), better gripping when wet, and a more desirable texture.